B2B E-commerce Success: Strategies and Growth Tips

Most of us are familiar with eCommerce and online shopping. But how many of us know about B2B eCommerce? Manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, resellers! This blog post is mainly for you!

B2B refers to the process of selling products or services between two businesses. B2B eCommerce is the online version of this selling process. B2B eCommerce is one of the fastest-growing sales models.

In a B2B e-Commerce platform, buyers and sellers meet online to manage orders from ordering to invoicing on any device. It creates better collaboration and transparency between buyers and sellers.

Having a B2B ecommerce automation as a wholesaler  or manufacturer provides your higher order volume and prevents the time loss caused by manual entry of orders and admin tasks. It is the biggest advantage to focus on strategic needs of your business rather than repetitive tasks.

Wholesalers and manufacturers take advantage of larger orders and less marketing spend. They are often thought of as traditional sales channels with a less than ideal buying experience. But technology and changing B2B buyer behavior has driven a change in B2B ecommerce. B2B companies also have concerns about customer experience cx. 

 Wholesalers and manufacturers have less chances to directly influence the choices of buyers.

Buyer easily acquire knowledge on their own because it is accessible through digital media. This situation obliges B2B businesses to use marketing tools.

B2B e-commerce platform is more than a tool to list products and take orders. It is a platform where you can control everything from sales to invoicing process.

B2B ecommerce cloud platforms enable B2B companies to sell online and simplify the buying process.

B2B buying process is complex. Contract terms, exclusivity, different pricing and payment options are included within the process.  CloudOffix’s E-Commerce Cloud overcomes these challenges. It allows you to create a personalized approach to your buyer. 

You can easily set different price lists and discount amounts for your buyer’s shopping carts.

Setting up a B2B eCommerce platform allows you to;

• Expand customer reach

• Reduce serving costs

• Improve efficiency

• Drive more revenue for your business

• Market your business directly to your target

• Automate sales processes

• Build better partner personalized relationships

• Increase employee productivity 

How B2B Ecommerce works

Moving your entire B2B business online leads to a better customer experience, streamlined operation, and new revenue streams. Emails and phone calls still have their place in B2B business, however, B2B eCommerce is a major sales channel in digital commerce.

On the other hand, it is important to keep in mind that buyers are changing. The difference between generations is obvious. The generations that grew up around digitalization, expect a more personalized and convenient buying process. The first rule of selling is being accessible.

B2B e-commerce platforms create an online experience that drives sales and fulfills orders, no matter where your buyers are. B2B eCommerce websites let you manage everything from one platform. You can provide a personalized sales and marketing experience by integrating your customer data. 

You can create custom price lists and discounts for specific buyers and suggest new products on past purchases. The flexible nature of the eCommerce platform allows different customers to see different pricing with various payment conditions.

B2B e-commerce platform is just like an online catalog with high-quality photos and detailed technical specs of your products. The buyer can log into this platform and buy directly from your website. You can also set the payment conditions, specific to your buyers. 

Once the buying process is realized you can proceed with invoicing at the same platform. Or, if buyers are in any need of assistance, they can easily contact you in real time.

Follow, track, and foresee your sales! Manage the whole sales process in just one platform.

B2B eCommerce platforms provide incredible ease and speed. Buyers can access products online wherever they are, whatever device they use. It also empowers the sales reps to work in a more consultative role.

For example, as a manufacturer, you are working with many distributors and wholesalers, or even some retailers. You can provide a username and password to your buyers. Once they log in to your website, they can have access to all the necessary services for buying. 

You can assign a customized price list, payment conditions, or discounts for each buyer. They can contact you in real time thanks to helpdesk features.

You can add search functionality to your website if you are selling hundreds or more products. Then it would be very easy for your buyers to find what they’re seeking on your B2B eCommerce website. It is also necessary to define the key search elements considering the product lines.

B2B eCommerce is about making a streamlined ordering process for traditional customers. It provides a 360-degree sales service from buying to invoicing.

Have you tried all other e-Commerce platforms, but are not satisfied yet?

CloudOffix helps you to bring your business online with the user friendly e-Commerce Cloud. You have everything you need to start, run, and grow your e-commerce business. It provides 360-degree eCommerce features even including aftersales. Sales automation, marketing automation, email campaigns, helpdesk, invoicing, and e-commerce are all perfectly integrated with each other.  

You can even benefit from the meeting scheduling features of CloudOffix! It works as a complete sales automation software and offers complete eCommerce solutions. You do not need to buy extra marketing or inventory management tools. 

 Follow the sales tasks with sales automation tools and decrease the burden of manual tasks.

With the help of a website builder, you can also create landing pages, blogs, or any page that would be necessary for your e-commerce website. Analytic tools included within the e-commerce software provide you website traffic; so that you can track your customers.

In today’s Business, showing your products online is vital. Product pages play a very important role. The quality of product photos, descriptions, and technical specs are also important to succeed in online business.

Design clear-cut product pages for your buyers to understand easily without losing extra time. The main goal of online business is to save unnecessary costs and time; so it should be simple and fast with a smoothly working system in the background.

Here are some tips to achieve a successful B2B e-commerce website:

1. Identify your buyers: Who are your buyers? Wholesalers, or retailers? Or both? Identifying your buyers helps you to map out the demands. 

What do your buyers consider during the purchasing? For example, the shipment conditions could be much more important than the product itself for a wholesaler.

2. Use High-Quality Images: Since people are buying online, it is important to show the product itself as detailed as possible in order not to disappoint them. Show all the details of the product from different angles. For example, if you are selling a dresser, show the drawer mechanisms. This leads to gaining the trust of your buyers.

3. Make it simple! Don’t design complicated pages where it is difficult to find any product information. Design a clear and simple layout.

4. Give details: Prepare all the online documentation for your products. Buyers don’t buy just by seeing the products, they also need the technical specs. Consider again your buyers and understand what information they need. Provide the information simply.

5. Be accessible: B2B buyers are loyal; they are like a part of your team most of the time. Collaborate with them as much as possible. They may need your consultancy during the purchase. This strengthens your relationship with the Customer. 

Accessibility and collaboration are the most distinctive competitive advantage when it comes to online commerce.

CloudOffix also offers a wide range of marketing features to help you increase your average cart revenue. You can run automated marketing activities such as e-mailing by segmenting your customers. For example, develop a loyalty program and define buyer categories such as silver, bronze, gold, etc. Inform and update your buyers by e-mail. 

This creates a competitive purchasing environment. You can set discount amounts for each category and let your best buyers enjoy the discount. It is a great customer experience tool to motivate your buyers.

Another scenario: Whenever you have a new product or collection, let your buyers know directly with automized marketing activities. Count the footfall by tracking the links on your website, just like following the footfall in a store.

These let you take necessary marketing steps to increase your basket size. The only difference is that eCommerce is much more time and cost-saving.

The point is to deliver a customer-centric commerce experience.

Your team focus on customers, not processes. The processes can be done through automized and smart platforms. But human relation is another thing. Your team will be more responsive and interested in delivering customer-centric care in this way.

The processes can be done through automized and smart platforms.